Latest Update in the China Pig Iron Market

This is a roundup of China's metals weekly inventory as of July 23.

As of July 23, iron ore inventories across 35 ports tracked by SMM totalled 119.95 million mt, up 2.5 million mt from the previous week and up 13.08 million mt year-on-year. Daily average deliveries from the 35 ports increased 93,000 mt on a weekly basis to 2.62 million mt last week.

The following table shows the ferrous and nonferrous metals movement on the SHFE and DCE on July 23, 2021

Inventories of rebar across Chinese steelmakers and social warehouses stood at 11.37 million mt as of July 22, down 0.7% from a week ago. Stocks are up 3.8% from a year earlier.

SMM data showed that HRC stocks across social warehouses and steel makers rose 68,100 mt or 1.71% on the week, an increase of 5.19% than a year ago, to 4.06 million mt in the week ended July 22.

DCE iron ore futures fluctuated downward sharply, main contract has fallen by 5.3% throughout the day and almost reach the lowest level within last month. The spot market in the morning has lowered 25-30yuan/mt over yesterday. Some traders accepted the deal with a quite low bargain price, even some traders continued to lower their quotation during the futures period. PBF at Shandong port dealt 1400-1420yuan/mt, down 20-40yuan/mt over yesterday.

Operating rates of blast furnaces at steel mills fell 0.2 percentage point from a week ago and decreased 3.7 percentage points from a month ago to 81.2% as of July 22, SMM survey showed.

The following table shows the ferrous and nonferrous metals movement on the SHFE and DCE on July 22, 2021